The Ability to Fall (Death Note)

09 ♚ Discovery

♚ : 09

— Discovery —

My ankle was no longer sprained after the night I’d woken up from my nightmare and explained everything to Lawliet. It was a painful process, but I managed to get it back to normal with his help. I stretched my ankle repeatedly, but he said that it would take forever to get rid of the sprain that way. He’s always been good a massages for some reason, so whenever there was a cramp in my neck or an internal injury, he’d be the one to fix it. He tilted his head to the side and observed my ankle, pressing a finger against certain areas and asking me if it hurt. When he was finished with all of that, he’d placed my foot in one hand and placed the other hand on the area above my ankle, and bent it, causing a rather loud crack to resonate in the air. I nearly fell over out of my seat.

“Ouch!” I shouted, my eyes shut tightly. “What the heck did you just do?!”

“Just a moment,” he reassured me.

He then massaged my ankle in a certain way that made the pain gradually lessen in a short amount of time. He repeated the process, cracking my ankle and then massaging it, until the pain was completely gone. After observing it one more time, he looked up at me.

“Try walking now,” he said.

I stood up slowly and walked around the room at a regular pace, or as far as the chain connecting our wrists would allow me to go. I stopped to smile at him. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” he said, hunching over again and continuing to observe the data he collected.

Watari then spoke. “Ryuzaki, have you found anymore crucial information yet?”

Lawliet held one finger up, as to signify that he was watching something important on the screen. At the same time, something on the news popped up about a live bank robbery; the thief was stealing money at this very moment. Lawliet watched Light closely in his room, who was scribbling something down on a notebook on his desk. He zoomed into the footage to find out that Light had been writing down math equations, no television on and no visible access to the media.

“He’s dead!” we heard someone shout on the news. “The man is dead!”

Lawliet pressed his thumb to his lips, his eyes not on the news report, which had just claimed that the thief had died of a heart attack. He instead zoomed in on the large, open bag of consomme-flavored potato chips that Light’s other hand was in. The camera didn’t give us a good look at it, though; the insides of the bag weren’t visible at all, and Light’s hand kept traveling in and out of it, only full of chips every time. Once the news report was over, Light had clipped the bag off chips shut, closed his mat notebook, and turned off his light so that he could go to sleep. 

Lawliet sighed. “What is he up to?” he muttered, nibbling at his thumb.

“Ryuzaki?” Watari asked once again.

“Yes?”

“May I ask if you’ve found anymore evidence again? I’d like to compare it to Light’s information, which I do have in front of me right now.”

He pulled out several manila folders, picked one out, and opened it. “I’ve found one other critical piece of information,”

“You have?”

“Kira is able to commit a murder without being there in person.”

“Couldn’t anyone be Kira, then?” I asked.

Lawliet tilted his head towards me. “I’ll be narrowing it down.”

“Alright, then.”

He continued. “Kira is a college student here in Japan.”

“Light Yagami is currently attending To-Oh University.”

“Interesting,” replied Lawliet, “Because now, the likelihood of Light being Kira has increased by quite a good amount.”

“Any more?”

Lawliet nodded. “The second Kira is different from the original. It seems as though he, or she, is able to trigger one’s heart attack by simply looking at them. This isn’t for certain, but it’s most likely to be true.”

I wondered why Lawliet was working so hard on this case. It was obvious by the looks of it that he was some sort of genius detective, but from what I’ve seen on the news, another detective was already on the case. He went by the name of L. While I’ve considered the fact that Lawliet’s name does begin with an L, I figured it was merely a coincidence. Although, I did decide to ask what his intentions were even later into the night, when Watari and Matsuda had been told by Lawliet to get some rest.

“Hey Ryuzaki?” I asked.

“Hm?”

“Do you know about L?”

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, but eventually responded. “Yes, why?”

“From what I hear on the news, he’s already working to solve the Kira case, and is has already been quite successful so far. So why exactly are you so concerned about it?”

He didn’t respond.

“Unless, of course, you’re L,” I nervously said, and sat next to him.

“I see you’ve figured out that I’m a detective,” he said.

He then peered over at me. “Listen, Kyou, I’m only going to tell you this because there’s no way that you’re Kira, and I trust you. You’re the only one who’d believe me, anyways, so that’s why I’m slightly worried. You can’t tell anyone else, alright? Not even your mother or people back at home; especially not them.”

I nodded. “Have I ever told anyone about any of your secrets?”

“No,” he said.

“Then don’t be afraid to tell me.”

He hesitated, took a deep breath, and then looked me straight in the eyes. “I am L,” he said.

My eyes widened. Although I’d already come to the conclusion that it was possible for him to be L, it was different, hearing it from Lawliet himself. “That’s pretty cool,” I smiled.

“I suppose so,” he replied, and then took another pause.

“What is it?”

“Are you planning on leaving Japan after this is sorted out?”

“Well, I might go to one of the universities that accepted me here, but I plan on visiting my mom before coming back; if I do come back.”

He pulled out a small key from his pocket and inserted them into both of the cuffs that were linking us. Just like that, the both of us were free.

“Let’s go and find a flight back home for you, then,” he said. “You’re completely cleared of suspicion, I’m guessing you no longer have the desire to stay in Japan.”

He avoided my gaze as that last sentence came out of his mouth.